Some Aphorisms Apropos of Men's Rights

I chose this topic because there appears to be plenty of leeway for additional clear thinking on both sides (all sides?) of the issue.

1. Hysteria in the service of a good cause helps no one.

2. "Men's rights" is not an oxymoron.

3. "Men's rights" is not a synonym for Fascism.

4. If you know a woman living in a man's body, don't ridicule or dismiss her feelings. Don't tell her to "get over" the way she feels or that she can be educated out of it. Understand that gender identity is a deeply-rooted essential element of well-being. (Look up "David Reimer" if you don't understand what I mean.)

5. Of course the same considerations apply to a man living in a man's body.

6. A woman's (or a man's) body is her domain. It is not for others to dictate what she can or cannot do with it.

7. I refer, of course, to women who want to take their clothes off for money, or consent to sexual activity in the way they choose.

8. Feminism does not mean women should lead their lives according to your rules.

9. If your problem a minute ago was that the law/social norms don't allow you to behave like a man, don't complain now that they don't allow you to behave like a woman.

10. If you want to be free to behave like a man, a good first step would be to stop whining so much.

11. Someone else's choice of romantic partner, male or female, has no effect on you and you therefore have no standing to object to or dictate it. You are not the romance police.

12. If someone else's choice of spouse inspires in you uncontrollable feelings of disgust, this does not make you a bad person. Good manners, however, dictate that you keep your feelings to yourself. (This is by no means a new rule of etiquette. Disgusting spouses have been around for all of human history.)

13. The foregoing applies of course if a middle-aged man is interested in a much younger woman.

14. Or a woman is interested in a much younger man.

15. Or indeed any permutation you can think up.

16. If you exclude me from your discussion because of the accident of my gender, skin color, or whatever, that's up to you. Surely you are not surprised if I then have little interest in what you say?

17. If the women around you seem to object when you act like a man, perhaps you're not very good at it.

18. So why not learn to do it better?